Josh Naylor Re-Signs With Mariners: Impact on AL West & Seattle’s Core

Josh Naylor Re-Signs With Mariners: Impact on AL West & Seattle’s Core

So, it looks like Josh Naylor, AJ Pierzinski, and uh the Seattle Mariners are going to be in a five-year union. Jeff Passen and Ken Rosenthal talking about it. Free agent first baseman Josh Naylor in agreement with the M’s on a five-year deal, of course, pending that physical. AJ, why do you think this makes sense if you do? I think it makes a lot of sense for both sides. I think Naylor must have gone to Seattle and really liked it. They almost made the World Series. He’s a free agent and they made an offer that he likes and and what I’m hearing what five years around 100 which is pretty good contract. I mean for a guy with Josh Naylor and listen if you like a place and you find a place that you really like and they’re offering you a contract that you’re comfortable with take it and he’s doing that and good for Josh Naylor and good for the the Mariners on spending some money and and trying to make their team especially their offense better early in the offseason. And AJ you mentioned it trying to make their team and go for it in the offseason. And Eric, we know that Dotto makes a lot of moves, right? But this is a guy that is trying, I guess, to lock down that core group because now you have Josh Naylor. Of course, you have Cal Raleigh, which they should lock up for eternity. Julio Rodriguez and the Mariners rotation. So, this is a foundational piece to what is already a pretty decent foundation moving forward for the M. What’s your take on it? I feel like anytime you can add a significant bat who they got Josh Naylor and they were like, you know what, we’re getting a guy, he stole a few bases, whatever. He added that stolen base component to what he already has. And clearly, I mean, we we get it. Julio Rodriguez got MVP votes. Cal Raleigh could have won the MVP. Um, and you go, “Okay, well, we don’t need somebody to carry the lineup, but when when you’re constantly year in and year out never making that move on a Lonzo, obviously they’re never in on Juan Sto. ownership just would refuse to allow Jerry Dotto who wants to make moves to make moves to be able to see that as the Mariners to shift in this direction. It’s awesome. Now you have Julio who’s locked up. You have JP Crawford locked up. You have Cal locked up and this is five years. You know, is this starting rotation going to last for five years? Ah, maybe all this is like a year or two late when they were really all in their prime, but they’ve shown they can produce pitching in their minor leagues. So, this is this is a this is obviously a great move. I think he was the second best first baseman on the market. And you talk about first baseman guys, and AJ, we’ll bump it over to you again. You look at the first baseman that are signed to essentially long-term deals, at least more than a two-year deal. We’ll put it that way. So, Josh Naylor now joins Vladimir Guerrero Jr., who’s obviously going to be in Toronto forever. James Shiano tweeting this earlier. Every first baseman who signed to more than a two-year deal. Christian Walker, of course, Matt Olsen of the Braves, who took over for Freddy Freeman, who went to the Dodgers, obviously, and he’s signed um long-term in Los Angeles. So, it’s a really small list. I’m not I guess I’m a little surprised that Naylor is on this list, but I do think it makes sense for the Mariners. Yeah, it makes total sense for both. Again, the Mariners, yes. Listen, they lock up a power guy that can play every day. He’s left-handed. He performed in the postseason. What else do you want? I mean, could he have maybe gotten more? Maybe. But again, this is a place he liked. This is a place he seemed comfortable. Good for him. And and you know what? A five-year deal. It’s pretty nice to go home and say, “Hey guys, I got a fiveyear deal.” That’s pretty awesome. Yeah, that’s awesome. It’s nice to have that job security. And obviously, James Shano is the host of the Mets Up podcast right here on Foul Territory. And he’s probably thinking about this list because what’s going to happen with Pete Alonzo, right? Like where is their first baseman going to go? So Eric, I ask you this. What else do the Mariners need to do in the off season? Because they have a hell of a court. You talked about the starting rotation. Obviously, it seems like the offense is finally catching up to that starting rotation. What else do they need to do? Uh, I think they need I think they definitely need another bat. What type of bat? when they got Suarez. Obviously, he had a huge two home run game in the playoffs that helped them get to where they were or continue to move on to where they were. But you do they need another power bat like that? I think they would have to evaluate it and say what type of hitter comes into this park and can hit dingers. And if they say there’s nothing available, is there somebody in a trade that can help them keep the line moving and not just be automatic outs? You know, sometimes sometimes when you have a park that is tough to hit in or tough to hit home runs in, then you say, “Okay, you know, well, we’ll just try we’ll just try to get the biggest bat we can. You know, some type of one-year Reese Hoskins type of deal.” I know it’s not going to work out because they already have a first baseman, but is there something that adds to that lineup? To me, you got to put the ball in play. If you can’t hit dingers out of your park on a consistent basis, and that costs money, find somebody that you can put the ball in play. Find somebody that’s going to keep the line moving. And I think it’s really adding to that lineup is what they need because that bullpen is stacked. The starting rotation stays healthy stacked. You know, that’s that’s where their focus should be. Holiday shopping season is here and we have you covered from head to toe. Let’s take talk about an area that’s not quite close to the toes. Let’s get crazy with this holiday season. Yeah, that’s MeUndies them spinning around, but the holiday season now you can get MeUndies with some holiday prints on them. That’s right. Ridiculously soft fabric holiday prints, matching holiday prints with your special person or you can coordinate PJs for the family photo. And right now you can get up to 50% off with the code foul. We rockmeies. You should too. We’re talking over 30 million pairs sold. Knock out all your holiday gifting needs today with me undies to get exclusive holiday deals up to, yep, I said it. 50% off. Go to meundies.com/fal and enter promo code foul. That’s mu n dies.com/fou l promo code foul for up to 50% off. AJ, let me ask you this. Eric wants another bat. Not certain which type. What else do the Mariners, in your opinion, need to do to get over the hump to at least get back into the postseason next year, move further? Is it a bullpen piece or is it another piece of that starting rotation? It’s a bat. I mean, it’s still a bat. It’s it’s always going to be a bad in Seattle. They’re their starting rotation is is good. If Logan Gilbert, George Kirby, Castillo, and and Woo stay healthy along with with Bryce Miller. I mean, they there’s a five five of the best. And then their bullpen with Munoz at the back end and some of the guys they found. One thing about Seattle, they always seem to figure out how to manipulate guys in the bullpen. So, I don’t know that they need any more pitching. Would a nice veteran starter look good? Sure. But, they have five guys who have been around now for a couple years. So unless you’re going to go out and trade one of those guys for another bat that you can use multiple position player pieces that can be ready in the future I think you just got to go and load up on bats. I mean Raleigh Julio now Naylor Palano is a free agent. They got to go do some with him. Crawford’s a nice piece. Rosarena still there. So I think they’re in a good spot. I think one more piece whether it’s a third baseman maybe. I mean, Alex Bregman, I don’t think would go there, but something like that would be a really nice piece. And a guy also that could play some defense because their defense is was a little bit I wouldn’t want to say shaky, but it wasn’t the best defense in the league. All right, a little suspect at times. By the way, congratulations to George Kirby. He got engaged recently. These are the stupid facts I bring to foul territory on a bimonthly basis. Um, are the Mariners Erics the team to beat in the AL West going into spring training? Are they the best in the division? I mean, I guess I guess it’s okay to pick against the Astros now. I mean, last year I just refuse to pick against the Astros and I guess that’s why they lost. They took a little bit of a step back because they couldn’t fight through the colossal injury of your Dawn. I mean, I think it’s a Yes, I think they I think they made that the last push that they made in September when Mariners of old Mariners history, every team collapses. They look like they wanted to collapse in August when they had some tough road trips and they were losing six of the seven games, but they made that next transition. And I think some of that is maturation of Julio Cal JP Crawford, but I also think some of it can be the fact that they’re extended for a long time. They’re not sitting there trying to trying to get hits, trying to do things that they’re just trying to win games. They’re just trying to win games in any way possible. And so I think this team has because of this past year right now I see them they catapulted themselves to the favorites in the west which they always were because of their starting rotation and now that they’re starting to hit the ball a little bit better. It’s legit. Is that the case AJ? You think the Mariners are at top of the division heading in? Well let’s see what the Rangers and the Astros do this offseason. I think I think those are two big clubs. The Astros just missed the postseason. The Rangers have pieces that are very nice. We’ll see. They’re supposed to be cutting payroll, but let’s see what the Astros do. I I think what what happens with From what other moves they make, a full year of Carlos Kareah at third. Let’s Let’s see what the Astros go out and do. But right now, where we sit on today on what is it, it November 17th, yes, the Mariners are the are the favorites.

AJ Pierzynski and Erik Kratz join Alanna Rizzo to break down the Seattle Mariners five-year agreement with free agent first baseman Josh Naylor. The crew explains why this move strengthens Seattle’s core around Julio Rodríguez, Cal Raleigh, JP Crawford, and their elite rotation, and what additional bats the Mariners should target this offseason. They also examine how this signing impacts the AL West race with the Houston Astros and Texas Rangers, plus what it means for other top first basemen across MLB.

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